Thomas takes on…downfall (2004)

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

by Anthony E. Thomas

In the beginning of 1997, I was assigned to the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division, back then headquartered in Germany. When I arrived in Germany as a bachelor 18-year-old Medic I was assigned to live in barracks that were built during the Nazi regime and housed Schutzstaffel (SS) troops. The old barracks had somewhat been updated with modern amenities, but most of the interior and the exterior were remnants of a past Germans did not publicly speak on. Regardless of the discourse Germans had and continue to have with their nation’s near history, Germany’s most memorable leader or Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) is seared into the annals of yesteryear. Named "Person of the Year” by Time Magazine in 1938, Hitler was somewhat internationally celebrated until he brought on war in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1939. The blitzkrieg, planned by German General Erich von Manstein (1887-1973), Hitler’s Wehrmacht (German Army) and Luftwaffe (German Air Force) conquered Poland, Northern and Western continental Europe within six weeks. By 1943, German forces were overextended from fighting on two fronts: the Soviets on the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union, the Baltic Region, and Slavic countries, as well as on the Western Front with the Americans, British, and French resistance. Following the successful invasion of D-Day on June 06, 1944, in France, German forces retreated to their homeland in early 1945. Heavy fighting between the SS and the Wehrmacht did not repel the allied forces and by April 1945 the Soviets had advanced into Berlin after a victory at the Battle of Seelow Heights on April 19, 1945.  The next day on April 20, 1945, the second scene of the movie Downfall begins on Hitler’s 56th birthday and the beginning of the end of his Third Reich or German Empire.

Downfall (2004) is a German film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (b. 1957), an adaptation of a screenplay written by Bernd Eichinger (1949-2011), based on the book by German historian Joachim Fest (1926-2006) Inside Hitler’s Bunker, and Until the Final Hour by Traudl Junge (1920-2002); Hitler’s secretary who resided in Hitler’s bunker during the last days of the war. The movie recounts the events in Hitler’s Bunker or Fuhrerbunker during the Soviet assault on Berlin in late April and early May 1945. Swiss actor Bruno Ganz (1941-2019) played Adolf Hitler. The trace of events inside the Fuhrerbunker is by the recollection of Traudl Junge, played by Romanian-German actress Alexandra Maria Lara (b. 1978), and additional sources to accurately reconstruct each scene, particularly scenes outside the bunker.  The movie’s opening scene is of Hitler selecting Junge as his secretary in 1942, which she accepts with glee. The next scene jumps forward two and half years later to 1945, Hitler exits his bedroom as his top generals, Chief of Armed Forces High Command Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel (1882-1946), and the Chief of the Army’s General Staff and Wehrmacht General Hans Krebs (1898-1945) grant him a happy birthday. Junge, along other secretaries confined to the bunker, are awakened by the bursting of Russian artillery. The movie follows the sequence of events associated with Hitler’s daily activities such as urgent meetings with his military leaders often resulting in shouting, and his learning of the “betrayal” of the top Nazi Party leaders, Luftwaffe Commander-in-chief Reichmarschall Hermann Goering (1893-1946) and SS Reichfuhrer Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945). Hitler’s closest deputies and long-serving party members feared consequences for their war crimes and plotted secret meetings with neutral state officials, the British, and Americans. Hitler is enraged and placed his anger on Himmler’s adjutant, Hermann Fegelein (1906-1945) who was suspected of deserting Berlin, a treasonable offense. Despite Fegelein’s marriage to Hitler’s mistress’ sister, Gretl Braun (1915-1987), who was pregnant with Fegelein’s child, Hitler ordered his death. Hitler took it personal whenever his loyalists abandoned him in efforts to save themselves which brought onto Hitler feelings of loneliness and vexation. Empathy is not deserved to Hitler in his despair, for he caused a war that cost 50 million lives in pursuit of his goal to create a German Empire based on racism and supremacy. 

Hitler’s emotions are traced from his upbringing as a boy. His father, Alois Hitler (1837-1903), was a firm-handed government official while his mother, Klara Hitler (1860-1907), consoled the young Adolf when distressed by his father’s strictness. Adolf formed a strong emotional bond with his mother but became overbearing after her death in December 1907. Around the same time Hitler struggled as an artist and was rejected twice from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1907 and 1908. When World War One broke out in 1914, Hitler left his native country Austria for Germany where he enlisted in the German Army and served as a messenger in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. When Germany surrendered to the allies in 1918, Hitler believed a grave injustice befell his country. In ensuing years Germany’s debt to the victorious allies ruined the German economy and left many war veterans unemployed. Knowing this about Hitler’s background, Hitler seemed to be a man who was constantly searching for a place to belong. He wanted to be accepted by his father, he wanted to be accepted by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, but acceptance eluded him. However, Hitler found his acceptance in the German Army; nonetheless, he was considered a bit odd among his peers yet non-threatening. In a post-war Germany, Hitler was one of many Germans who tried to find purpose and hoped to restore order in a chaotic country. During these times Hitler’s passion for his adopted country was finally well received in his speeches at the National Socialist German Worker’s Party or Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) which helped the party gain attention. Hitler became a marveled spectacle at the NSDAP meetings by accident. His commanding officer tasked him to spy on a political party in Munich which was the NSDAP. Unsatisfied with their rhetoric, Hitler ranted about the glory of Germany and uniting all Germans under one country. Hitler’s talent for public speaking changed the course of the party. Hitler left the German Army and become leader of the NSDAP now commonly known as the Nazi Party. Hitler was finally accepted and when the stock market crashed in 1929, the Nazis exploited the plight of German workers to gain membership. By 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by Germany’s President Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934). Upon the death of von Hindenburg, Hitler combined the titles President and Chancellor into one position, Fuhrer or Leader. Hitler most likely finally felt accepted and loved by his people. So, forward to April 1945, the Fuhrer has nowhere to go and once again feels the pain of rejection with each of his henchmen attempts to escape a consequential fate in losing another war, and Soviet captivity. This rejection enraged Hitler to the point he risked the lives of all Germans. He demanded no retreats, ordered the conscription of civilians and young boys to fight for the Berlin defense, and ordered the executions of all deserters whom he deemed as traitors.

During abandonment, Hitler resolves himself in his most unwavering loyal men and women as seen in his elation for Luftwaffe General Robert Ritter von Greim (1882-1945) and aviator Hanna Reitsch (1912-1979). Any chance for a Final Victory is hopeless, yet in his momentary resolve, Hitler appointed von Greim, Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe. This appointment was over his discontent with Goering who wrote a letter expressing his taking control of the government if Hitler was incapacitated in Berlin. Reported by Nazi Party Head of the Chancellery Martin Bormann (1900-1945) to Hitler in the film, Goering negotiated with the Western allies; hence, Hitler saw this as a serious betrayal. 

The movie does showcase humanity of the Germans; civilians suffering starvation and public executions, and the German soldiers injured and bloodied in underground field hospitals. The destruction the Nazi’s imposed onto other nations and people was now laid upon the German people themselves. The youth are recruited to augment the Wehrmacht and Volksstrum in defending Berlin and later many orphaned as their parents were among the war dead. The brainwashing by Nazi propaganda capsulated Germans from childhood well into their adulthood. The Hitler Youth or Hitlerjugend members age limit was lowered to 12 to maximize able bodied persons in the Berlin Defense Area. The Hitler Youth from pre-teens to teenagers and young SS officers felt obligated to fight on at all costs, even at the expense of their own lives knowing defeat by the Soviets was certain. One character is a one-armed parent; most likely a veteran from the early days of the war, seeking out his son to find him at an anti-tank position. He speaks to the Hitler Youth including a female from the Bund Deutscher Mädel (German League of Girls), in a failed attempt to convince them to abandon their post. The children respond to him with zeal to prove their loyalty to Hitler and thus their duty to defend Germany. In another scene a mother cries out for her son after an artillery shell explodes finding her son lying dead in the rubble. In the scene where Hitler is congratulating Hitler Youths, the ceremony is being filmed. This is one inaccuracy in the movie, showing this event occurring in April 1945. This event was on March 20, 1945, before the Battle of Berlin. The Hitler Youth were present at the Reichstag on April 20, 1945, for Hitler’s birthday but it was not filmed nor photographed. In retrospect, the misplaced scene neatly fits in the movie to show Hitler’s desperation as his regime collapses.

Similar films that predate Downfall are The Last Days (1955), Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973), and The Bunker (1981) starring British actor Sir Anthony Hopkins (b. 1937) who played Hitler. Unlike its predecessors, Downfall explores the plight of Berlin residents. Those in the bunker with their Fuhrer are conflicted to escape Berlin or commit suicide. The weight of their ideology collapsing around them drives several of the characters to take their lives after Hitler and his wife for one day, Eva Braun (1912-1945) committed suicide on April 30, 1945. The political fanaticism is realized when Magda Goebbels (1901-1945), the wife of Nazi German Minister of Propaganda and Enlightenment Dr. Josef Goebbels (1897-1945), poisons their six children with twisted justification to spare them from living in a post-Nazi Germany: a monstrous decision. The murderous parents take their own lives on May 01, 1945, outside of the bunker. Josef and Magda Goebbels’ bodies were burned but were recognized by the Soviets once the Fuhrerbunker was ceased by the Soviets, which is not shown in the movie but is part of written history.

The film ends with Traudl Junge speaking on her lack of knowledge on the Final Solution; the Nazi plan to exterminate Jews and undesirables. While stationed in Germany, I often heard the same from German elders who were children and young adults during the Nazi regime. I consider Downfall the best Hitler Bunker movie ever produced. Bruno Ganz’s performance is laudable and since the movie is in German, the language adds more authenticity as to how the nonfictional persons characterized in the film most likely sounded and what they would have said in their native tongue. I highly recommend this movie as a must see. English and other language subtitles are provided for non-German speakers.